ROUNDTABLE: Northwestern athletics’ top moments of the year

Who’s got your top spot?

With Northwestern athletics officially having come to a close, there have been quite the share of moments for ‘Cats fans to remember. From a pair of national championships to buzzer-beaters and walk-offs, NU impressed fans season after season. But with so many moments to choose from, who tops the list? Our writers ranked each of their top ten Northwestern sports moments of the year.

Note: Rankings were decided based on where each voter placed a moment, and rankings were decided based on a point tally. For example, if a writer placed Northwestern field hockey’s national championship in their top spot, that moment received 10 points; for second place, nine points; third place, eight points, and so on.

10. Nick Martinelli’s game-winner vs. USC (14 votes)

After surviving Maryland in overtime thanks to a Martinelli game-winner (more on that later in this piece), Northwestern basketball fell into a massive rut. The Wildcats lost four of their next five games, and would close the year on a 6-10 stumble. But one of those six victories came courtesy of the dramatic finishes Northwestern fans have become accustomed to. The Wildcats led the Trojans by 15 with 10 minutes to play and 14 at the under-eight timeout. USC promptly erupted on a 25-11 run to tie the game with 29 seconds to play. With the season’s hopes hanging in the balance, Chris Collins got the ball to No. 2. Two defenders blanketed him, but it didn’t matter. No one could stop Martinelli all season, and that was especially true in the biggest moments.

— Brendan Preisman

9. Madison Taylor’s 10-goal performance vs. Michigan (17 votes)

Northwestern lacrosse entered its second-round NCAA Tournament game against the Wolverines facing a lot of questions, with most swirling around Madison Taylor. While the junior had scored six goals against Michigan less than a month prior, she was coming off of a sloppy performance against Maryland in which she tallied as many yellow cards (two) as goals. But with all eyes on her, Taylor rose to a level previously unseen in tournament history. She matched her Maryland total less than three minutes into the game. She had four goals by halftime. And then in the third quarter, she put up the best five-minute stretch of lacrosse I’ve ever seen. Taylor scored four goals from the 5:50 mark to the 0:40 mark of the third frame, three of which were unassisted. With another third quarter goal and a garbage-time fourth quarter goal added to that total, Northwestern’s superstar became the first player EVER to score 10 goals in an NCAA tournament game. And she wasn’t done breaking records.

— Brendan Preisman

8. Kansas Robinson’s game-tying grand slam vs. Notre Dame (24 votes)

A moment from a game that resulted in a tie seems surprising to call memorable, but let’s travel back to the actual moment.

In the bottom of the seventh, the ‘Cats seemed dead to rights against the Fighting Irish. Riley Grudzielanek and Renae Cunningham didn’t have particularly great outings, giving up eight earned runs on nine hits in 2.2 innings between the two. At one point, NU found itself staring at a seven run disadvantage. After trading scores in each of the three innings preceding the seventh, the score stood at 10-6.

Lauren Sciborski singles; Avery Garden singles; Kelsey Nader gets hit by a pitch.

If you’ve played diamond sports growing up, you’ve put yourself in this exact scenario a million times while squaring off against your friends in the backyard.

Final inning, two outs, two strikes, bases loaded, with a chance to cap off the most improbable of comebacks with your back against the wall. For Kansas Robinson, that dream suddenly became reality, and she delivered, going deep into the Evanston sky to draw the score even at ten.

A homer that had the inner child in all softball fans jumping in excitement.

— Matt Campbell

7. Trent Liolios’ and Ryan Kucherak’s home run race (25 votes)

Oh man was this ever fun. Let’s set the scene.

Coming into 2025, these were two guys looking for breakout seasons, but in different contexts.

Trent Liolios: a junior that hadn’t found his footing in the box in his undergraduate years at NU. With a career batting average a two ticks above the Mendoza line, Liolios was seeking a way to up his contact rate to show off his abundance of power.

Ryan Kucherak: a transfer from LSU who showed flashes of great potential in his limited time in Baton Rouge. In short, a hungry sophomore seeking to make noise in the Big Ten.

This combination gave way to the greatest home run race in Northwestern history.

During the Butler midweek on April 29, Liolios smashed the single-season home run record with a blast to dead-center. It seemed that his name would be ingrained in the history of ‘Cats ball. What happened next was absolute insanity.

That record breaking homer came during Liolios’ worst stretch of the year: a sub .200 average throughout the month of April. His 16th homer would be his last of the season. Kucherak also went deep for his 13th long ball of the year against Butler, but the thought that he’d overtake Liolios by season’s end seemed pretty outlandish at the time.

That was until he hit five home runs in the final week of the season.

Kucherak’s final explosion between series against Ohio State and UCLA made minds explode. An absolute anomaly and something we didn’t except to see down the home stretch, but an explosion that was much needed during the tail end of the ‘Cats postseason push. The question of “does Liolios have one more in him?” made the ride all the more exciting.

— Matt Campbell

6. Madison Taylor breaks the NCAA Division I single-season scoring record (28 votes)

After her masterpiece against Michigan, Taylor’s next task was toppling a stingy Penn team that had just upset Maryland. The junior walked onto Lakeside Field five goals away from taking sole possession of the NCAA’s single-season goals record. It took her less than 35 minutes. Her record-breaking goal snapped a 3-0 Penn run, and her sixth goal made her the first player in women’s lacrosse history to score 105 goals in a season. She’d add four more goals in the Final Four, pushing her 2025 mark to 109 goals. Any way you slice it, Taylor’s totals of 109 goals and 158 points (second-most in NCAA history) showcase one of the most impressive scoring seasons in lacrosse lore. Sure, Tewaaraton winner Chloe Humphrey may have had the most “successful” season. But the BEST lacrosse player in the nation wears No. 25 for Northwestern, and she’s got the scoring record to prove it.

— Brendan Preisman

5. Northwestern men’s basketball’s overtime win vs. No. 16 Illinois (35 votes)

This game probably prompted the most optimism out of any the ‘Cats played in 2024-25. It was the team’s first truly impressive win in the post-Boo-Buie era, and a 27-point showing from Martinelli alongside a double-double from Brooks Barnhizer generated true hope for a new dynamic duo. The Welsh was packed, the energy was palpable and the Wildcats earned exceptionally high praise from Illini head coach Brad Underwood following the affair. The game had clutch shots, electric defense and a Matt Nicholson bloody elbow to fire up the faithful in purple. Truly, what more could you ask for?

— Calvin Kaplan

4. Martinelli’s game-winner vs. Maryland (51 votes)

The more well-known of the two Martinelli buzzer-beating jumpers in Big Ten play, the junior forward’s awkward shot at the baseline marked an unbelievable finish to arguably Northwestern men’s basketball’s most chaotic finish of the season. Martinelli was undeniably the breakout player of the year not only for the ‘Cats but in the entirety of the conference, and shots like these were proof of a growing confidence instilled in the Italian Stallion’s game that elevated him from a role player to a bonafide star.

— Miguel Muñoz

3. Northwestern lacrosse’s semifinal win vs. No. 3 Boston College (80 votes)

Throughout the 2025 season, it seemed like Boston College and North Carolina would be on a collision course to meet in the national title game, having been the top two women’s lacrosse teams in the nation for the majority of the year. Coming into the NCAA Final Four, the Eagles were favored over Northwestern, having defeated the ‘Cats 13-9 in the regular season. In addition, BC was much deeper than NU talent-wise, especially on the offensive end. This started to show in their NCAA semifinals matchup against each other, and when Boston College went up to an 11-6 lead, it looked well on its way to making an eighth consecutive NCAA championship game. However, the Wildcats went on a remarkable 6-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull off the upset, remarkably qualifying for a third straight title game of their own. After losing so much production from the year prior, Northwestern reaching the exact same stage of the postseason as 2024 this year is a testament to the consistency of its team.

— Yanyan Li

2. Northwestern field hockey’s national championship (93 votes)

Unlike golf’s Cinderella run, this championship was far more expected — but that doesn’t discredit just how impressive it was. Northwestern has been one of the top teams in college field hockey since 2021, but the 2024 squad was the best team that this program has ever fielded. Led by Olympians like Maddie Zimmer and Ashley Sessa and the nation’s best goalie in Annabel Skubisz, there was nothing short of star power on the Wildcats’ roster. Besides a blemish against Michigan in the Big Ten tournament championship, this team went undefeated and was just the fourth program in Northwestern history to not lose in the regular season. After nailbiters in the NCAA quarterfinals and semi-finals, the ‘Cats saved their best performance for last in a dominant 5-0 victory against St. Joseph’s to claim their second NCAA title in program history.

— Yanyan Li

1. Northwestern women’s golf’s national championship (95 votes)

Winning the women’s golf national championship was voted the top moment of the year by our staff. It was a storybook run for the Wildcats — one of the most remarkable achievements in NU sports history. Cold-weather schools rarely win the national title, as winter months limit outdoor play and preparation. But Northwestern broke that mold. Entering match play as the No. 11 seed, the ‘Cats stunned the field, defeating No. 5 Oregon, No. 2 Arkansas and No. 1 Stanford — all by 3–2 margins. Their triumph over Stanford, a team widely regarded as one of the greatest in collegiate golf history, was particularly historic. Dianna Lee delivered the clinching moment, calmly draining a five-foot putt to bring the championship trophy to Evanston.

— Ascher Levin

Honorable Mentions:

Aditi Foster’s game winner for NU lacrosse in the Big Ten Championship (11 points); Maddy Zimmer-to-Ashley Sessa go-ahead goal in NU field hockey semifinals (10); Joseph Himon II walk-off touchdown vs. Purdue (nine); Trevor Chumbley’s fourth-place finish in the NCAA wrestling championships (seven).